Loving Kindeness meditation practice (Metta): www.beliefnet.com/Health/2000/07/Opening-The-Heart.aspx A few recent psychological studies suggest that loving-kindness meditation may impact health and well-being. One study done at Sanford University suggests that a short 7 minute practice of loving-kindness meditation can increase social connectedness.[26] Loving-kindness meditation has also been shown to reduce pain and anger in people with chronic lower back pain[27]. Researcher Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that loving-kindness meditation can help boost positive emotions and well-being in life, fostering the personal resources that come from experiencing positive emotion. (wikipedia)

Retrouvaille™ … a lifeline for Marriages

I recently learned about this program for couples seeking to heal their marriage. The word Retrouvaille™ (pronounced re-tro-vi with a long i.) is a French word meaning rediscovery. The program offers tools needed to rediscover a loving marriage relationship. . . . No couple is ever denied the chance to heal and renew their marriage because of lack of funds. Check YouTube for many videos of couples’ experiences with the program.

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Welcoming Home exercise for couples: supporting our nervous systems to return to a sense of safety with each other when returning home or reconnecting when one of us has landed in a higher arousal state than the other. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9FBdC2Kykg

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Hold Me Tight by Sue Johnson, is a useful and readable book about EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) for couples whose relationship conflicts arise out of early attachment disruptions. (Most all of us, one time or another, in different degrees of severity) This approach to therapy is used to support military couples and families of firefighters and police. In research done after 911, first responders who had someone to talk to that they felt safe with often experienced “post-traumatic growth”, a deepening understanding of themselves and life. Those who kept feelings bottled in and tended to isolate seemed to experience prolonged symptoms of post-traumatic stress. See www.holdmetight.net/ and my description of the process: lelaccarney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Hold-Me-Tight .pdf